NEW DELHI: The AIFF League Committee has recommended that 15 teams should play in the Hero Indian Women’s League 2022-23 season, with 11 of the clubs coming through as the champions of their respective state Leagues, with four of the top teams from last season of the Hero IWL making up the rest of the numbers.
The 15 teams will be divided into groups, with the top teams from each group set to advance to the Super 6 Round, which will determine the champions.
The committee also recommended that a total of two foreign players be allowed to all the teams in the Hero IWL (one of them being under the Asian Quota).
It was suggested by the committee that the IWL be scheduled in April 2023, due to the All India University and the Indian Women’s Team calendar. In order to avoid an overlap of tournaments, the committee suggested the Hero Senior Women’s NFC be held around February-March, 2023.
Hero I-League 2
The committee further recommended that the Hero 2nd Division League be known as the Hero I-League 2 henceforth.
States that have conducted their state leagues in 2021-22 (12) will nominate a club each for the I-League 2, with six reserve teams of the Hero ISL clubs also joining the league. A pre-tournament qualifier will be held for the teams from states that have not conducted their leagues in 2021-22, from which the top two teams will gain entry into the I-League 2, bringing the total number of clubs in the league to 20.
These 20 teams, the committee suggested, would be divided into four groups of five teams each, and will play each other in a round robin home and away format. The winners of each of the four groups, along with the best second-placed team will play in the Final Round, which will be a single-leg, round robin format in May, 2023.
